Tommy Mann

  The old prophets rarely used years to date their work, and instead chose to tie their writings to events in history. In the Old Testament Amos said he wrote, “in the days of Uzziah…two years before the earthquake.” (1:1) His fellow minor prophet Zechariah mentioned this same earthquake, saying that on that future day of the Lord (a time of judgment), “you shall flee as you fled from the earthquake in the days of Uzziah, king of Judah.” (14:5) Uzziah’s story is found in both 2 Kings 15 and 2 Chronicles 26, but neither account mentions an earthquake. But since two prophets later referenced it, it must have been a doozy. The fact that the narratives about Uzziah do not cite this earthquake has given scoffers some ammunition to say the Bible is not credible.  But not anymore. Archaeologists now believe a massive earthquake rocked the Middle East in 760 BC, during the reign of Uzziah. They estimate that the quake would register a staggering 8.2 on today’s Richter scale, which mea...

  One of the most quoted New Testament verses has to be Acts 1:8. This is a go-to text for missions conferences or sermons on sharing the gospel. If you are not familiar, it says: “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” Because of the indwelling of God’s Holy Spirit, Christians have a supernatural boldness to tell others about Jesus—to be His witnesses, to use the biblical phrase. I would like to point out that the word “and” is found three times among the final thirteen words of the verse. Nowhere in the text do we see the word “or,” but too many of us act like that is what it says.  The disciples were not told to pick a place. Jesus did not say, “You will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, or maybe Judea or Samaria, or possibly to the ends of the earth.” He repeatedly said and, not or.  Because we are not in the Middle East we might not understand...

  It is hard to read about the calamity that befell ancient Israel. The Assyrian and Babylonian captivity seem like severe punishment. How could a loving God allow His people to be defeated and captured, exiled and enslaved?   We need to remember that these things did not come without warning. In 2 Kings 17:13 we read, “Yet the LORD warned Israel and Judah by every prophet and every seer, saying, ‘Turn from your evil ways and keep my commandments and my statutes, in accordance with all the Law that I commanded your fathers, and that I sent to you by my servants the prophets.’”  That same chapter tells us Israel was stubborn, they turned to idolatry, and they despised the words of Yahweh their God. Yet God was patient. This was not a one strike and you’re out situation, or even three strikes and you’re out. The Lord sent prophet after prophet, warning the people that they were in violation of the covenant made with Moses and the rest of the nation. Have no other gods, have...

In 1572 an engraver named Philips Galle created a series of works that would become known as the Seven Wonders of the World. Among the scenes highlighted were the Great Pyramid of Giza, the Colossus of Rhodes, and the Hanging Gardens of Babylon. Over time many different natural and manmade locations have been canonized as so-called Wonders of the World.  But long before Galle compiled a list of wonders in the world, the writer of Psalm 119 referred to the Wonders of the Word. In verse 18 of the psalm he prays, “Open my eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of your law.” Few of us would think any law is wondrous. Has anyone ever trembled in anticipation of reading the latest bill being debated in Congress? Man’s law is rarely wonderful, but God’s law is only wonderful.  We also need to keep in mind that the author is using a figure of speech (called synecdoche) in which a part of something is used to speak of the whole. He isn’t just talking about the law, but all of God’...

Thanks to social media there is a word we are hearing more and more: influencers. People who amass a large following online get paid to promote products, as companies have learned that people will purchase what their favorite trending celebrity tells them to buy. In recent election cycles politicians have paid influencers to rave about them to their followers. These influencers get paid to make people do something they probably would not have done on their own.   But influencers have always been around, even if they weren’t paid for their influence. Human nature shows that some people are leaders and others are followers; leaders influence while followers follow the lead. We see a clear example of that in 2 Chronicles 23-24 with the unlikely king named Joash.  His father died as a result of a battle wound, so the queen mother assumed the throne and murdered all the male relatives that could challenge her for the crown. But she missed one. Her grandson Joash was hidden away by ...

In Psalm 21 David is praising God for delivering him from his enemies in battle. In the ninth verse he says, “You will make them as a blazing oven when you appear. The LORD will swallow them up in his wrath, and fire will consume them.”   That is terrifying imagery, as the previous verse said God would “find out” all His enemies. I know some people do not believe in a literal hell, and while it is true that word does not appear in this psalm, the idea of unbelievers in the afterlife is always associated with fire, as they are depicted here in a blazing oven. When I hear this phrase, blazing oven, I can’t help but think of the three bold young men Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, who were thrown into a fiery furnace for refusing to worship Nebuchadnezzar’s golden idol. But they were not harmed by the fire because there was a Fourth Man in the furnace with them, none other than Jesus, the Son of God. They were protected from the flames, even though they technically deserved it for br...

  Two famous men lived at the same time in the mid 19 th   Century. One was Charles Spurgeon, one of the most beloved men to ever stand in the pulpit. The other man was Karl Marx, the communist leader whose ideals resulted in the death of millions of people around the world.     Part of Marx’s strategy was to supplant Christianity because he viewed it as the greatest obstacle to his goals. Recognizing this, Spurgeon was an outspoken critic of both Marx and his socialist ideals. This was more than just political disagreements, but was Christianity vs. atheism. Marx was successful in turning many pastors towards socialism, but it was a Godless religion, one that minimized the cross and the sacrifice of Jesus.   Marx wrote  The Communist Manifesto,  but he didn’t write alone. He had a coauthor named Friedrich Engels. Engels was asked near the end of his life who was the one person he disliked most in the world, and he replied with one word: Spurgeon. The ...